Front grille guards are mounted on vehicles to protect the radiator grille and/or front bumper of the vehicle. In most uses, grille guards are used with pick-up trucks and sport utility vehicles but they could also be used with sedans and off-road vehicles. Although primarily for utilitarian purposes such as preventing brush and other debris from impacting the radiator grille, the guards are coming into wide acceptance for decorative and aesthetic purposes.
One problem with currently manufactured grille guards is that they further remove a mechanic from accessing the engine and other related components underneath the hood of the vehicle. Skilled artisans will appreciate that many such vehicles are already quite large and do not allow for easy access to components under the hood. This is especially problematic for “lifted” trucks wherein extremely large tires are utilized to lift the truck a considerable distance above ground. As such, the grilles further exacerbate the problem of accessing the vehicle's engine. Therefore, there is a need to allow for a mechanic to access components underneath the hood while utilizing features of the grille.